Sir Henry John Lowndes Graham, (15 January 1842 – 5 December 1930) was a Scottish public servant, Clerk of the Parliaments from 1885 to 1917."Graham, Sir Henry (John Lowndes)"
''Who Was Who'' (online edition, Oxford University Press, December 2007). Retrieved 2 January 2019.

Biography

Graham was born on 15 January 1842, the only son of William Graham of Burntsheilds, Renfrewshire, and his wife Anna, ''née'' Lowndes; his sisters included Lady Barrington (wife of Sir

Eric Barrington Sir Bernard Eric Edward Barrington (5 June 1847 – 24 February 1918) was a British civil servant who was principal private secretary to three Foreign Secretaries. Career The Honourable Bernard Eric Edward Barrington, youngest son of William Bar ...

) and his half-brother was the Glasgow MP William Graham, whose own children included Dame

Agnes Jekyll Dame Agnes Lowndes Jekyll, ( Graham; 12 October 1861 – 28 January 1937) was a Scottish-born British artist, writer and philanthropist. The daughter of William Graham, Liberal MP for Glasgow (1865–1874) and patron of the Pre-Rapha ...

Frances Horner Frances Jane Horner, Lady Horner (''née'' Graham; 28 March 1854''1939 England and Wales Register'' – 1 March 1940) was a British hostess, member of the Souls social group, and a patron of the arts. She was depicted several times by Edward Bu ...

(wife of Sir John Horner), and the wives of Quintin Hogg and Lord Muir Mackenzie. He attended

Harrow School (The Faithful Dispensation of the Gifts of God) , established = (Royal Charter) , closed = , type = Public schoolIndependent schoolBoarding school , religion = Church of E ...

(1855–60), where he was a monitor in his final year, and then went up to

Balliol College, Oxford Balliol College () is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. One of Oxford's oldest colleges, it was founded around 1263 by John I de Balliol, a landowner from Barnard Castle in County Durham, who provided the f ...

, to read

classics Classics or classical studies is the study of classical antiquity. In the Western world, classics traditionally refers to the study of Classical Greek and Roman literature and their related original languages, Ancient Greek and Latin. Classics ...

(1860–64); he also rowed for the college."Sir Henry Graham", ''The Times'', 8 December 1930, p. 14.

Called to the bar The call to the bar is a legal term of art in most common law jurisdictions where persons must be qualified to be allowed to argue in court on behalf of another party and are then said to have been "called to the bar" or to have received "call to ...

in 1868, in 1874 Lord Cairns (the

Lord Chancellor The lord chancellor, formally the lord high chancellor of Great Britain, is the highest-ranking traditional minister among the Great Officers of State in Scotland and England in the United Kingdom, nominally outranking the prime minister. The ...

) appointed Graham his private secretary; when Cairns left his office, he appointed Graham a

Master in Lunacy The Commissioners in Lunacy or Lunacy Commission were a public body established by the Lunacy Act 1845 to oversee asylums and the welfare of mentally ill people in England and Wales. It succeeded the Metropolitan Commissioners in Lunacy. Previou ...

, but in 1885 he was appointed Clerk of the Parliaments. In that capacity, he attended two coronations and witnessed the rejection of the

People's Budget The 1909/1910 People's Budget was a proposal of the Liberal government that introduced unprecedented taxes on the lands and incomes of Britain's wealthy to fund new social welfare programmes. It passed the House of Commons in 1909 but was bloc ...

by the

House of Lords The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the Bicameralism, upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by Life peer, appointment, Hereditary peer, heredity or Lords Spiritual, official function. Like the ...

and the subsequent passage of the

Parliament Act 1911 The Parliament Act 1911 (1 & 2 Geo. 5 c. 13) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It is constitutionally important and partly governs the relationship between the House of Commons and the House of Lords, the two Houses of Parlia ...

. He retired in 1917. Graham was appointed a Companion of the

Order of the Bath The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by George I of Great Britain, George I on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the elaborate medieval ceremony for appointing a knight, which involved Bathing#Medieval ...

(CB) in 1895. He was promoted to Knight Commander (KCB) of the Order in the

1902 Coronation Honours The 1902 Coronation Honours were announced on 26 June 1902, the date originally set for the coronation of King Edward VII. The coronation was postponed because the King had been taken ill two days before, but he ordered that the honours list shou ...

list published on 26 June 1902, and invested as such by King

Edward VII Edward VII (Albert Edward; 9 November 1841 – 6 May 1910) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and Emperor of India, from 22 January 1901 until his death in 1910. The second child and eldest son of Queen Victoria an ...

Buckingham Palace Buckingham Palace () is a London royal residence and the administrative headquarters of the monarch of the United Kingdom. Located in the City of Westminster, the palace is often at the centre of state occasions and royal hospitality. It ...

on 24 October 1902. He died on 5 December 1930, leaving a widow and five children. Graham married first Lady Edith Elizabeth Gathorne-Hardy (died 1875), daughter of

Gathorne Gathorne-Hardy, 1st Earl of Cranbrook Gathorne Gathorne-Hardy, 1st Earl of Cranbrook, (born Gathorne Hardy; 1 October 1814 – 30 October 1906) was a prominent British statesman, Conservative politician and key ally of Benjamin Disraeli. He held cabinet office in every Conservati ...

, by whom he left two sons, the diplomat Sir Ronald Graham and the writer Harry Graham. He married secondly Lady Margaret Georgiana Compton, daughter of

William Compton, 4th Marquess of Northampton Admiral William Compton, 4th Marquess of Northampton, (20 August 1818 – 11 September 1897), known as Lord William Compton from 1828 to 1877, was a British peer and Royal Navy officer. Biography Northampton was born at York Place, Marylebon ...

), by whom he had three children.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Graham, Henry 1842 births 1930 deaths Scottish barristers People educated at Harrow School Alumni of Balliol College, Oxford Knights Commander of the Order of the Bath Clerks of the Parliaments Masters of the High Court (England and Wales)